A blog for reviews… that's really not much of a blog

Foreword: Alright! With the finish of this title, I’ve finished all the games from Whirlpool, starting with Magus Tale (pronounced mah-gi-u-su-teh-i-ru), to Justy Nasty. A more “meh” game than anything else, I’ll admit that Magus Tale was rather disappointing overall. However, I ask all readers to give it a break because it’s one of their oldest games.

Despite being an older game, this game “technically” has a True Route, which is achieved by clearing all the normal routes available. Despite this, I hesitate to actually call this a “True Route”, mainly because it was kinda… sloppy. I’ll get to that later, of course.

I’ll be adding more detail for each character’s routes starting with this review (since I figured some of my reviews are pretty vague as it is), so please forgive me as I present to you, the Review of Magus Tale!

Summary: Daiki’s father suddenly went missing, leaving a note that he would be searching for his long lost wife (Daiki’s mom). Trying to contact his little sister, Koyuki, about this incident, he finds that he cannot contact Koyuki at all; he is turned away from the reception call, who also happens to freak the living daylights out of him. Nonetheless, he realizes that if he wants to meet Koyuki, he must directly go to her school.

However, he soon learns that her school is located on an island, that is uncharted on maps. Finding this strange, he also finds out that no one is willing to sail a ship in that area because of some weird phenomenon that makes the area very dangerous. Finding this action strange, Daiki rents a small boat and rows for several hours to find the island, only to be suddenly attacked by an unnatural wave.

However, Daiki does not die. Instead, he is washed ashore to an unknown area, along with a girl who is unconscious next to him. The girl does not remember who she is, and before the pair can even adapt to where they are, an old man comes to attack them!

The Amnesia girl; Arisia

Story Length: Moderate (20 hours)
Complete Story Clearing Difficulty: Moderate.
Comments: The routes are not clearly marked, so a beginner may need walkthroughs. As for myself, I had trouble in the twin’s route, because no matter what I did, I could’t access Nina’s route. I also had to look on a walkthrough to see what I was doing wrong, but yeah… wasted a bit of time QQ;;

Character Design Rating: 5/10
Story Rating: 7/10
Game Quality: Moderate
Overall Rating: 6/10
Rating Comments: A slightly inferior game, considering Tenmaso was the artist (and according to the trend of Whirlpool, if Tenmaso does the CG work, the game actually has a better script). Much of the plot is shallow and lacks impact. Of course, this will be described in a bit. The CVs used were good, but overall, this was a more inferior Whirlpool game.

The twin, Rena and Nina! I’ll be honest and say that I was hoping for a Harem route for these two girls and was quite happy when I got it, lol

Detailed Explanation: Looking back at the game, it is obvious that Arisia is the main heroine. As for the true route, I had in mind that from the previous trend of Whirlpool games, it would be whatever character is most closely related to the Sekaiju (which is a magic tree bearing small “fruits” that become the source of magic for the students). It became quite obvious in Arisia’s route that she is the manifestation of the Sekaiju (although I wasn’t 100% certain), when she was able to predict the “Magic Times” or have a large innate magic ability in the first place. I personally don’t appreciate the fact that her story was pretty much another “Heroine-has-to-leave-the-protagonist-omg-QQ” story, and in that sense, I would’ve rated other routes more superior.

Koyuki’s route was also pretty vague, as her story seemed rather incomplete with the sudden appearance of the sibling’s parents, when Koyuki was trying to search for them. The game showed that the parents were located in a different dimension, and just that element (mind you, it doesn’t appear in other routes) gave it a “wtf” moment as I finished her route. Despite being a cute sister with lots of magic, AND voiced by a nice CV, Koyuki’s route was also pretty “meh”.

Nina and Rena’s route (I personally like the fact that they were voiced by two different CVs), involved the fact that the twins were together for so long, that in order to perform magic spells, they need each other; one to produce the magic, and one to contain it. It is shown through the story that when they are separated, the twin’s magic is weakened greatly, so most of the route focused on whether or not the twins would be able to “stay together” with Daiki’s presence. Of course, it’s possible to have both heroines, but for completion’s sake, you would need to choose either twin for the CGs and of course, the H-Scene.

The red-haired magician Seira is the daughter of the school principle and arguably the highest ranked magician in the entire school. Basically a tsundere character who can’t depend on anyone due to her pride, she falls in love with Daiki after seeing how he is always sacrificing something for another person, which includes herself. Most of her route was dull, and involved her complex of “being the best” (I will shoot you if you start singing the Pokemon song), and trying to live up to that standard. During one of her magic exams, it is shown that Seira also has a weak side, where she refuses to attack a target, because there was a butterfly nearby: she was afraid of harming it. Despite this, this “weak side” is not shown again throughout her route, with perhaps the exception of when she learns to rely on Daiki for various things.

Yuka, the small senpai, probably had the best route. Plagued by an unknown illness, most of her route is filled with meaningful symbolism that add in most impact towards this cute character. Yuka’s route involves her relationship with flowers, one in particular being the very tall sunflower that does not die even in winter. Yuka is very protective of this flower, which the readers may soon realize is like the life of Yuka herself: as the flower wilts, Yuka herself is struck with a sickness. I sincerely loved the scene where her “sickness” is worst during a heavy thunderstorm, which is when the sunflower is at greatest danger of being killed. However, the sunflower somehow survives the storm, and so does Yuka with her sickness. Perhaps Daiki had something to do with this…? *Hint hint* ;)

Sexual Content: Moderate.

Comments: As for the true route, it involves the manifestation of each of their “fruits” into spirits, with each of them using their abilities to “relinquish” a seal placed on the Seikaiju. I actually found this “battle” to be rather boring.

Affection for the Characters: Moderately low

CG Quality: Good
Music Quality: High

Addictiveness: Low

Conclusion: A “meh”-rated Whirlpool game, which I’m not sure why a fandisc was released for… Nonetheless, it’s a Whirlpool game; it’s always been like this (or similar to it), so I have no huge complaints.

Joyjason’s Status!

PLEASE NOTE! I do NOT receive requests to review titles that are indie and translated into English! Thank you for your understanding and all the wonderful offers!

Search this blog!

Search:

Game Categories

Game Categories

Developer Pages

Spoiler Pages & Blog Password

Some reviews will contain spoiler pages and password protected so that it doesn’t appear publicly in the main page, and you don’t “accidentally” peek at it ;)
Please note that the password for everything on this website will be always the same: “vnerogereview” (minus the quotations of course)